Al of this takes place in an atmosphere of growing doubt about US intentions toward international journalists and "uncontrolled information." There has been something a bit more than suspicion about the number of journalists killed in Iraq, and Eason Jordan recently stepped down as CNN'c news chief following blogged reports of off-the-record remarks he made about possible US journalistic targets in Iraq (please read them--let's not remain IN THE DARK about information of such potential significance). Many in the right-wing blogosphere refuse to accept even the possibility that the Bush administration imperative to control information might go so far as to try to intimidate journalists. If violence is not a means to that end, calumny certainly might be. As one right-wing wag put it today,

"Giuliana Sgrena is a propagandist for the Communist daily rag Il Manifesto. Her writings do not reveal a bias, they reveal that Sgrena is an enemy of the United States of America and responsible for supporting terrorists and the murder of American soldiers and civilians. "

The point is this: neither to believe Sgrena's account nor the US account on face value. The American people deserve a full and unbiased investigation into this incident, as well as the other incidents in which journalists have been killed. And the point is this, too: I doubt the American people are going to get it.

Peter K Fallon

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About Me

A PROUD MEMBER OF THE REALITY-BASED COMMUNITY-- and of the 99%. Professor of Media Studies at Roosevelt University in Chicago, 23 year veteran of the television industry, 18 years with NBC News' "Today" program.